Months and months of fundraising and planning. Twenty-four hours of dancing.

Finally, the numbers went up: $1,454,929.30 raised for pediatric cancer patients being treated at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

“I’d been up for more than 30 hours, and my feet were really hurting, but when that final total board went up, everything just went away,” says Sushma Santhana, executive director for the UI’s 30th Dance Marathon. “It was awesome to see all the hard work we all did come together.”

Santhana was inspired growing up in North Liberty, Iowa, to join Dance Marathon in eighth grade after a local student died of cancer.

“Hearing about his story and the impact that it had on the community and the people around me motivated me to want to start doing something,” Santhana says. “So, I started with Dance Marathon freshman year in high school at West High. And then when I went to Liberty High School, I helped to grow that program. I joined UI Dance Marathon my first year, and I didn’t expect to eventually run for executive director, but I don’t regret it. It was probably the best thing I’ve done with my time here in college.”

Along with Dance Marathon, Santhana has been a student ambassador for the College of Engineering, participated in multiple research projects, played intramural sports, and studied abroad in Italy.

After graduating this spring with a biomedical engineering degree, Santhana will move to Minneapolis to work for Boston Scientific.

Why did you choose to come to the University of Iowa?

I actually didn’t want to come to Iowa at first because I grew up 10 minutes from here. My dad works here, and my sister went here. So, I was like, “Get me out of Iowa, get me somewhere out of state.” And then I visited a bunch of other places out of state, and nothing really felt like home until I came here on campus.

And turns out it was far enough away from home but close enough that I could take my laundry home on the weekends, or I could go home for dinner.

What are some of your earliest memories of being on campus?

I lived in Mayflower my freshman year, and it was something that I didn’t think I would like at first. But I got there and met my roommates and my suitemates, and it turns out most of my favorite memories are from there. We had this really awesome view of the sunset from our room, and we would just sit and watch the sunset over the river every night. We would take long walks together when the weather was nice from Mayflower to campus. We had stir fry nights because we all had kitchens. It was just a fun community to be a part of.

How would you describe what it’s like to be a Hawkeye?

The University of Iowa is a community. I love wearing Iowa stuff whenever I’m out of state because I’ll always get a “Go Hawks.” On spring break, I wore an Iowa shirt to the beach, and five separate families came up to me and said they were from Iowa and that they went there. It was just a really awesome way to meet people.

Everybody that’s a Hawkeye wants to meet a Hawkeye. My boss from my internship at Boston Scientific this summer was a Hawkeye and that’s how I got connected to the company. And then I met three or four more Hawkeyes when I was working up in Minneapolis. They’re everywhere. It’s great to be a part of that.

What has contributed the most to a sense of belonging during your time on campus?

I’d say the College of Engineering was the first community that I felt like I was a part of. At first, people from various majors take classes together. Eventually, we kind of separate off into our specific major, but by then you’ve gotten to know everybody. I would walk through the halls and find myself saying hi to so many people.

Then there’s the Dance Marathon community. There are so many people who are involved with it, but I feel like I got to know, or know a little bit about, most of the people on my leadership team. And it’s awesome to see them on campus outside of Dance Marathon and feel like I’m part of their community as well.

What’s been the most valuable things you’ve learned?

How much of an impact you can have on people, and you might not even realize it. From the little things that you do, just saying hi to people and getting to know them, to leading Dance Marathon and raising $1.4 million. All of those things can have big and small impacts on people and may even be the reason that they decide to come to Iowa or join Dance Marathon.

I work as a student ambassador for the College of Engineering, and I met a high school student at one of the visit days. We ate lunch together, talked to each other, and now she goes here and joined Dance Marathon because I suggested it. And she wrote me a really sweet note telling me how much she felt cared about and belonged because of the stuff that I did for her.

What are some of the more impactful research projects you’ve worked on?

I started in the Orthopedic Biomechanics Lab within University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics my freshman year. I obviously didn’t really know anything coming in, but Don Anderson took me under his wing and welcomed me onto the team. In that lab, I helped investigate tunnel placement in ACL reconstruction surgery. It was pretty awesome to see the progress that I was able to make just as a freshman with the support of the grad students and the other people working in the lab.

I later worked in Professor Jennifer Fiegel’s lab in the chemical/biochemical engineering department helping to create hydrogels to prevent skin wound infections. That was really cool because I could actually see this going on to help people.

I never thought I’d get to do this sort of research as an undergrad. When I started college, I thought I’d be doing all my math and chemistry homework in the study room and eating my lunch in the dining hall, doing my laundry, going to bed. Typical college life. But it was pretty cool that I’ve gotten to do all this.